The instant gratification mindset

We live in the tech age; it is an age that has produced instant access and instant gratification. We have IPods, cell phones, texting, microwave meals, online bill payments, quick cash from ATM machines, express checkout lanes, and a drive through window at the local eatery. We want everything instantly. We don’t want to wait in a line at the grocery store or at a stoplight at any given intersection. In fact how many times have you hit the horn because someone didn’t go when the light turned green? Maybe it is because of our fast paced society and the instant gratification mindset that we don’t want to wait on the Lord to help solve our problems? We expect God to “do His thing” without even asking. And when it never takes place we say, “Well, the only thing left to do is to pray.” And when it still doesn’t happen we say to ourselves, “Well God, I just prayed now where are the results!!!! Don’t take too long to answer my request because I am in a hurry!”

When I think of our impatience with God it reminds me of a preacher who once told of a woman who came to him regarding a serious marital problem. After analyzing her situation carefully, he finally said to her, “There are two roads available to you. One is to take matters into your own hands and force the issue. If you do; that will bring about a speedier solution, but it will mean a broken home and your children without their father. The second road calls for you to act like a Christian should act; by praying every day for your marriage, living your life as a child of God, and by waiting on God to make a difference in your home. Now pay attention, this is not an instant solution, the Lord might make you wait for some time before He works out your problem. Your patience may be severely tried, but in the end you will have a permanent and satisfactory solution and your home will be a home worth saving.” The woman went away, took his advice and began to trust in the Lord and display a godly Christian character in her marriage. As a result, she began to see God work out her difficulties and not only was her family a united family, her faith was strengthened, and she grew in the Lord.

What does that story have to do with you? I used it so that now you can examine your attitude in solving problems. What has been your decision making process in the past when you have come to the “fork in the road”? Have you chose the path to the speediest solution or the path that will lead you to the culmination of God’s ultimate plan? Too many times people want a quick fix for everything. When facing life’s choices, whether they are difficult or not, it is too dangerous to choose the road that leads to instant solutions, because brothers and sisters there isn’t any such thing. Just ask the child of parents who have divorced. Or ask the guy who dumped his wife for a “new model” only to find out he was having the same problems that he had with the “old model”; because he was the problem!

Waiting upon the Lord expresses dependence on Him and brings rest for the soul. If you’re facing overwhelming problems never forget Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”

Here is some refrigerator door wisdom from me to you today, “Patience is a virtue that carries much wait!”